source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 21:29:07 -0700 Subject: HP debate From: "Adam B. Silverman" Bill asked will Purchase become the Harry Partch Bayreuth? Clever, but it brings up a recollection. Dean Drummond told me that nobody is allowed to play the instruments except for Newband and invited guests, who are always among the top percussionists in NYC--not even SUNY Purchase students who want to devote the time to learning on a regular basis. When I pressed him on this point, he agreed that if I moved to Purchase, I could assist in maintenance and tuning, which would give me plenty of time with the instruments. I would never, however, play any ensemble works. It gives people like me (aspiring kitharists without the money or expertise to make one) almost no chance at all to get involved with them. I wonder how many of HP's ensemble members would have made the Newband cut (no fingers pointed, just a question). I had hoped that perhaps two ensembles could be involved--Newband plus an ensemble-in-training. On another point, there *is* anecdotal evidence about how Harry wrote his melodies. Ben Johnston told me (and the scores attest) that Harry's vocal lines for Barstow, US Highball and earlier pieces were not precisely microtonal, but *freely ad libbed*. Later, he found it easier just to transcribe his performances while retaining the natural style in order to guide the performers who sang when HP didn't do the deed himself. As to corporealism, Li Po *is not a corporeal piece* since his theories of corporealism were not yet in place. Staging it would be extra, and in my opinion, distracting from the simple elegance of the songs. The Greek Studies are also noncorporeal, as well as probably are most of the smaller songs such as many of the Intrusions, The Letter, etc. Bitter Music is noncorporeal, yet multi-media. I grant that it would be silly to produce a "concertante" version of The Bewitched. How effective would it be to stage Bless This Home? I'll go further and argue that a staging of Barstow would be nothing better than a pantomime, since the piece is inherently the text plus accompaniment, and lacks a coherent dramatic concept, such as that found in Water! Water!. Adam Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 24 Jul 1996 09:59 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id AAA21324; Wed, 24 Jul 1996 00:59:49 -0700 Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 00:59:49 -0700 Message-Id: <199607240758.AAA21238@eartha.mills.edu> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu